Disney Planning Musicals of ‘Toy Story’ and ‘Shakespeare In Love’

In one of the few new Broadway musicals that I have enjoyed in the past 5 years, The Drowsy Chaperone, the narrator comments on the Disneyfication of Broadway as a negative thing. Indeed Disney Theatrical has slowly been creeping in and taking over the Great White Way with a new adaptation of one of its films almost every year. Recent additions include Tarzan the Musical, Mary Poppins, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and The Little Mermaid. The Disney musical is a lot like a movie sequel – a lot of spectacle, not much art, and a guaranteed cash flow.

Now Disney Theatrical has gone ahead and registered a plethora of new domain names that give you a sneak preview of which musicals it has coming up next. Some of the big ones are Toy Story, which already has a stage show designed for cruise ships, Freaky Friday, Pirates of the Caribbean, Coyote Ugly, and Shakespeare in Love. Some of the choices on the list are obvious like Sister Act and Step Up, films that were highly musical already. However, some are serious head scratchers – A Nightmare Before Christmas the live-action musical?

Despite the expected disasters that most of these projects will likely be, I can’t help but feel a little excitement about some of the titles. For instance, I feel that a musical adaptation of Shakespeare in Love could be brilliant. If it has the same wit and heart as Tom Stoppard’s screenplay for the film, then it could be excellent. Shakespeare was meant to be seen on stage, anyway.

Here is the complete list of musicals that had domain names registered:

About Alex Carlson

Alex started Film Misery in early 2009 after living the site’s title for many years. His film obsession began in high school when he and his friends would see all of the Oscar Best Picture nominees and try to make predictions...Full Bio.

You know, big cities like Chicago and New York have plenty of storefront theatres that show great stuff. That’s where I’d be spending my money, rather than on any of this garbage. “Citizen Ruth” might be interesting, though (I haven’t seen the film yet, but I know about it).

Give me old classics like “Sweeney Todd”, “Ragtime”, and “Les Mis” any day.

Jose

Coming February 2011, Little Miss Sunshine: The Musical.
I too scratched my head at that.